Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to computing devices and computer software. In particular, some embodiments relate to enhanced features, improved user interfaces, and other user interaction technologies that can be implemented by and/or otherwise embodied in computing devices and computer software that provide internet radio functionalities.
Increasingly, people are using electronic devices to purchase and consume digital content, including books, music, movies, and applications. One way of consuming digital content that is becoming more and more popular is “internet radio.” Internet radio generally refers to streaming music that is provided over the internet and/or other network connections to various computing devices, including desktop computers, laptop computers, and mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, and other mobile computing devices.
Some internet radio applications and services are similar to traditional radio services provided by broadcast radio stations, in that the music, advertisements, and/or other content that is broadcast and/or otherwise played is centrally controlled by a single entity, such as a disc jockey or “DJ,” for a relatively large number of listeners. In other internet radio applications and services, the advertisements, music, and/or other content that is broadcast and/or otherwise played is selected for and played to a narrower, and sometimes individual, audience.
For example, some conventional internet radio systems may allow a user to create an internet radio station based on one or more content seeds. Like a traditional radio station, an internet radio station may represent a media channel via which a particular selection of songs and/or other content is provided, but for an internet radio station, the selection of songs that is provided may be defined based on the one or more content seeds. Typically, the content seeds are songs, albums, or artists that are selected by the user based on their individual tastes and interests. These conventional internet radio stations then may select one or more songs for the created internet radio station based on the content seeds provided by the user. The selected songs then may be provided to the user, for instance, via a streaming network connection.
While conventional systems can provide basic internet radio services, as discussed above, these services often require a great deal of configuration on the part of the user. In addition, these services might have only limited insight into a user's tastes, interests, and/or other preferences, including the user's music preferences. Further, while some conventional internet radio systems may be used as a way of advertising and/or offering music for sale to listening users, it may be inconvenient and confusing for users to purchase music using these conventional systems. Moreover, while some conventional internet radio systems may allow a user to share an internet radio station with another user, such sharing capabilities are typically very basic and cannot handle a user's future changes in preferences and/or configuration settings, which might affect a previously shared internet radio station.